pillow-tastic

this past saturday was spent with my mama, who graciously gave me a lovely tutorial on pillow re-covering.
mom has been "cleaning out her life" and trying to get rid of things she no longer needs or uses. she had about a dozen old throw pillows, clothed in some outdated fabric and taking up space in the basement. i have been itching to get some new throw pillows into a few of our rooms, but just couldn't justify the price tags. throw pillows are annoyingly expensive. DIY has been on my brain lately, so it only made sense to steal up those puppies from the basement and give them a nice makeover.

here they are before:




i know nothing about sewing, but have always envied people who did. i would love to have the capability to create clothes for peyton or even clothes for myself. but at this point in my life, between my job, family, friends and activities, sewing is a hobby that may have to be put on hold for a few decades.

mom showed me the drill and it comes down to this: pressing, measuring, cutting, pinning, sewing, pressing, stuffing and lastly, hand-stitching. it's actually pretty easy once you get going, but we were juggling a curious baby, a feisty bobbin, and a hungry papa, so it took a little while longer than expected. not gonna lie, mom did the majority of the hand stitching, only because i was super sllllloooooow, but practice makes perfect, right?

overall, i scored eight pillows and only spent about $30 for the fabric. now if that's not a deal, i'd like to know what is:)

here i am, hard at work. don't be deceived, i look pretty hard core, but this pic was staged:)


 


here are my pretties showing off their new look. i love how they all turned out! it's crazy what a few pops of color can do to a room.

orange damask....one of my favorite patterns, fo sho!

this pillow ties in our khaki green couch and the bright orange pillows. i also have one of these in our bedroom, which is currently too messy to take of picture of. just being honest:)

 

this is the guest room. the front pillow is the newest addition. that headboard is also a DIY creation of mine (using this tutorial).

close up

this little guy (girl?) will live in peyton's room. i plan to add a DIY flower on it (pics to come?). i told you i liked damask...this pattern will most likely show up in my house on more than just pillows!

the basement couch. i picked the fabric and mom sewed 'em! 

 here are some of mom's creations...she redecorated her guest room and needed a change in pillows:

love this pattern combo... it looks great in the new terracotta guest room!

peyton's doll house got some upgrades too...mom, are you going to re-upholster the couch next??:)

a big girl in a big-girl chair

a happy hubby after being reassured that orange is a good accent color... "don't worry, babe. the room will come together....just trust me":)

on a completely different note, i have to give a shout out to my new favorite obsession, Pinterest.  rachel is the one who inspired me to jump on this trendy, new bandwagon, but I LOVE IT. (she blogged about it here.) it's a great place to go to just get inspiration. think of it as a virtual cork board, full of images that you love and have "pinned" to your own personal board. i 'm probably not explaining it very well, so you may just have to hop on over and check it out!

how do you feel about my pillows? wanna come over and see them in real life? i love me some visitors:)